Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of compound glycyrrhizin combined with minoxidil in the treatment of alopecia areata.Methods Randomized controled trials were retrieved from PubMed, Cochrane library, EmBase, Wanfang database, Chinese journal full text database (CNKI) and the VP information resource system was used to observe the clinical efficacy of compound glycyrrhizin combined with minoxidil in the treatment of alopecia areata (randomized controlled trial, RCT). The retrieval covered the period between January 1979 and May 2018.The related literature was analyzed and evaluated. Statistical software RevMan 5.3 was used for the meta-analysis of the data.Results A total of 11 Chinese RCT articles were included, involving 1102 patients. The meta-analysis Results showed that there was statistically significant difference between the two groups in the effective rate [OR=3.86, 95% CI (2.83, 5.25, P<0.01)]and in the cure rate[OR=3.05, 95%CI (2.33, 3.99), P<0.01]. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups [OR=0.91, 95%CI(0.52, 1.58), P=0.73], but the difference in the incidence of irritant dermatitis was statistically significant between the two groups[OR=0.50, 95% CI (0.26, 0.96), P=0.04].Conclusions Compared with minoxidil treatment, compound glycyrrhizin combined with minoxidil has a better effect and a higher recovery rate in the treatment of alopecia areata, and the side effect is relatively light.